Spin-polarized transport in a normal/ferromagnetic/normal zigzag graphene nanoribbon junction

We investigate the spin-dependent electron transport in single and double normal/ferromagnetic/normal zigzag graphene nanoribbon (NG/FG/NG) junctions. The ferromagnetism in the FG region originates from the spontaneous magnetization of the zigzag graphene nanoribbon. It is shown that when the zigzag-chain number of the ribbon is even and only a single transverse mode is actived, the single NG/FG/NG junction can act as a spin polarizer and/or a spin analyzer because of the valley selection rule and the spin-exchange field in the FG, while the double NG/FG/NG/FG/NG junction exhibits a quantum switching effect, in which the on and the off states switch rapidly by varying the cross angle between two FG magnetizations. Our findings may shed light on the application of magnetized graphene nanoribbons to spintronics devices.